You must be 36 inches tall to ride. It also takes three tickets.

The clear plastic bag strapped to Sonya’s side is filling with the valuable blue and pink paper as parents and their children pay up after waiting in a long line.

Sonya Dunnigan-Farnsworth is a carnival worker and her spinning Tea Cups children’s ride is popular.

Some parents try to board the revolving platform, but there is a 54-inch height limit. Sonya, small in stature herself, patrols the gate with confidence. She fills the six teacups with four kids each to fight back the line, but it keeps filling.

She tucks the kids into the cups, ensuring their seat belts are strapped in and the door of their round vehicles are securely shut. The kids are getting impatient. She gives them a test twirl as she walks by to their utter delight.

She counts and raises both of her thumbs to signal without saying a word, “Room for two more kiddos!” While this is going on a little girl manages to undo her seatbelt and climb out to the front of the platform, spouting tears and sobbing. The girl has changed her mind and wants no part of this.

Now there are three spaces to fill.

Without flinching, Sonya hands three tickets back to the child’s mother and lets her into rescue her child. Other parents are shouting from the other side of the gate trying to get their kids’ attention for photos on their smartphones.

Sonya circles the cups once more to make sure everything is set before she descends.

“Watch me now,” she says as the kids are quite possibly on their last nerve.

She makes a lavish gesture and raises her pointer finger above her head so they can all see this moment. She presses the large red button. They are off.

During the minutes-long reprieve, Sonya slurps on a soda.

Protruding from her other hip is a keychain affixed with a large bottle of hand sanitizer. You can also see socks embroidered with little hearts protruding from her black tennis shoes that are splattered with what looks like white paint.

Though Sonya could easily fit on the ride, she is not fragile.

Aside from short restroom breaks, she has been operating the ride non-stop all weekend. Temperatures have raised to temperatures in the low 80s where her ride sits out in the open unshaded from the sun.

IT IS THE EVENING of Saturday, June 3, and the sun is setting on the third day of the 37th Annual Herndon Festival. Sonya smiles, her patience and professionalism never eroding.

The four-day festival featured musical entertainment on three stages, a carnival with rides, fireworks, arts and crafts, a business expo, 10K/5K races and fitness expo and a variety of food and drink vendors.

“We work on planning this for sometimes nine months to a year,” Abby Kimble, marketing specialist with the town of Herndon’s Parks and Recreation Department, which produces the festival each year. This is her 11th year working on the festival. “When the weather is nice and the crowds are happy, and the vendors are happy, then it’s all a good payoff for all of that hard work.”

The fireworks display on Saturday evening were set off to hometown themed music, like American Idol season 11 winner Phillip Phillips’ 2012 hit single, “Home.”

“I spent hour selecting the music back in January,” said Holly Popple, performing arts and special events supervisor for the town’s Parks and Recreation Department. “It was all about town and hometown pride.”

An estimated 81,500 people visited Herndon’s historic downtown area to partake in the hometown’s festival last weekend, according to Kimble. That is more than a threefold jump in the town’s total population of 24,393, estimated in 2016 by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The crowds who flocked to the downtown area were greeted with pleasant smells and hot grills.

“The food selection at the Herndon Festival is enormous,” Kimble said. “You can come in and get some amazing barbecue, you can have vegetarian, you can have Indian food, it runs the gamut.”

Everyone has their favorite.

“I think a classic funnel cake means festival to me,” Kimble said. “I love seeing people that have eaten a funnel cake and then have all the powdered sugar on their shirt like they just missed their mouth and it’s all down their shirt. That’s always a good look.”

The town and its residents take pride in the annual celebration.

“Volunteers are our backbone for this event,” Kimble said. “If we didn’t have the support of all the Herndon volunteers and people from the surrounding area, we couldn’t put this event on. It takes over 1,000 hours of volunteer service to make sure that our entrances are covered, the place is kept tidy and we’re also able to have free hand-on arts activities because of all of these wonderful volunteers.”

There were rides suitable for all ages, from tiny tots to teenagers and adults. Kimble’s favorite is the Gondola Wheel.

“What’s really fun is to get up there when the fireworks go off and see the fireworks,” she said. “That’s my little insider tip.”

THE FESTIVAL, which started 37 years ago because a community member wanted to throw a party, began as a one-day affair, according to Kimble. It’s now a four-day staple of the town.

“It’s kind of like a homecoming when you come to this event,” Kimble said. “You get to see people that you haven’t seen all winter long or haven’t seen in years but they come out and support it.”

The town employees are committed in keeping it going, even if the downtown will be unavailable next year.

“We’re going to keep on offering it,” Kible said. “It’s a cherished event for many in the community. We look forward to offering the 38th and many more.”

While funding for the celebration is not allocated in the town's fiscal year 2018 budget, town staff would like to host the event at an alternate location. This is due to construction that is anticipated for the redevelopment of the downtown area. This line item was also unallocated in the budget because negotiations for the work between the town and developer are still underway.

Like the work for the redevelopment of downtown, when a suitable alternative site for the festival is found, the funding for the celebration will need to be introduced as a budget adjustment, which requires the approval of Town Council.

Click here to see more pictures of the festival.